I called Brian earlier tonight and as soon as he answered I could tell something was off. His voice was at a higher, tenser pitch than usual and he sounded a bit winded. I asked him what he was doing.

'I'm in the woods looking for the dog. She ran away at like two o'clock.'

It was 9:00 when I called him. He's been looking for her for about six hours, and he and his dad are in the depths of the woods, his dad with a shotgun and him with a knife. You know, as protection against coyotes and other such dangerous woodland predators.

I really hate the distance between us right now.

[UPDATE] He just called (12:30am) and after heading out on a borrowed 4-wheeler to venture deeper into the woods to find her, he received a phone call from his house telling him that she had showed up in the driveway. I'm sorry, but if dogs ever knew just how much shit they put their owners through... [/UPDATE]